Is Mount Pleasant the New Brewery District?

Posted on November 17, 2013 by Pamela Smith

With many new large breweries and micro-breweries opening up in and around Mount Pleasant, this gentrifying area is more than just skate boards and skinny jeans. It is the new 'it' spot in Vancouver with great night life. For those of you interested in pub crawling, these breweries are in close proximity so you can leave your car at home!or craft beer lovers in Vancouver, there’s plenty of reason to celebrate.

They’re clamouring to meet a growing demand for craft beer in the
province. Currently, craft beer accounts for some 20 percent of the
beer market. If cities like Portland are any indication, however, that
could easily grow to 40 percent and beyond as beer drinkers become more
choosy with their suds.

Here’s a rundown of some the breweries you can expect popping up
around town in 2013. Fittingly, four of these breweries will be
situated in the historic Brewery Creek neighbourhood of Lower Mount
Pleasant (situated roughly along Main Street, between 1st Avenue and
Broadway) – which should make for some great beer crawls.

Steamworks: The venerable brewpub on Water Street
has been turning our quality steam-powered beer (like their flavourful
Signature Pale Ale) for 18 years. Now they’re getting ready to move
into a new 25,000-square-foot brewery in Burnaby, with a
2,000-square-foot tasting room. Estimated opening date: July 1.

Red Truck Brewery: Red Truck,
whose brews are already popular in Vancouver, is expanding its
production capacity with a facility on East 1st Avenue in Lower Mount
Pleasant. It will include the Red Truck Diner, a retro restaurant and
pub. Estimated opening date: Late 2013.

Main Street Brewing Company: You may have already seen Main Street Pilsner
at bars and liquor stores around town. The new company has been
renting brewing space from Russell, but they’re about to begin renos on
a facility of their own on West 7th Avenue in Mount Pleasant. Estimated opening date: May.

Brassneck Brewing: This joint venture by the owner
of the Alibi Room (a beer lover’s pub at its best) and a former brewer
at Steamworks shows lots of potential. The facility,
to be located at 2148 Main St., will include a microbrewery and tasting
room, plus a retail area for buying growlers (refillable jugs of beer).
Estimated opening date: Late 2013.

33 Acres: This new brewery is already through the permitting process, according to the Sun’s Randy Shore, and is about to begin construction of a facility on West 8th Avenue in the Brewery Creek neighbourhood. Estimated opening date: unknown.

Central City Brewing: Central City,
which produces the Red Racer line, should already be familiar to craft
beer connoisseurs in Vancouver. Now, beer wizard Gary Lohin is
expanding to a huge 65,000-square-foot brewery near the Pattullo Bridge.
It will triple Central City’s brewing capacity and include a lounge
and tasting room. Estimated opening date: July.

Mount Pleasant is known as one of the more up and coming
neighbourhoods, especially in the communities surrounding Vancouver's
downtown peninsula. Many first-time homeowners and young professionals,
as well as a growing number of families, call Mount Pleasant home. It is
also home to a number of artists and writers, including CBC
personalities Ian Hanomansing and Tod Maffin, The Tyee editor David Beers and documentary filmmaker Peter W. Klein.

History

Mount Pleasant owes much of its origins to a former stream and,
because of it, developed much of its unique and rich character. The
stream attracted a number of breweries from 1888 to 1912, hence it
became known as Brewery Creek. In 1890, the first street cars
arrived; as far south as 1st and Main. Brewery Creek, in conjunction
with the connecting routes of Main and Kingsway, became the centre of
industry and commercialism for the district of Mt. Pleasant. By 1897,
there was a substantial population growth centred on Broadway and Main
Street. The ability to commute to the City Centre and the industries of
Brewery Creek and False Creek provided the draw for many working
families that now populated the area below Broadway. In a sense, Mount
Pleasant can be called Vancouver's "first suburb".